Shielded soap spray nozzle



Jan. 10, 1956 P. BRADFORD EI'AL 2,730,170

SHIELDED SOAP SPRAY NOZZLE Filed Sept. 14, 1949 INVENTOR.

Purely Bra. dford. C/garlzs ssfzirzzr.

ZJTTQANY United States Patent SHIELDED SOAP SPRAY NOZZLE Purdy Bradford, Palos Park, and Charles S. Steiner,

Homewood, Ill., assignors to Swift & Company, Cincage, 11]., a corporation of Illinois Application September 14, 1949, Serial No. 115,638

1 Claim. (Cl. 159-2) The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for controlling the size of the pieces of material produced by flash dehydration.

In a number of processes a solid material present with an undesired amount of volatile material is separated from the latter by heating the two and spraying or otherwise injecting them into a chamber which is at a sufficiently reduced pressure to cause the heat present to vaporize a desired amount of the volatile material. It is then a simple matter to separate the solid material from the gaseous fluid. An example of such a process is found in a continuous method of making a powdered or granulated soap.

The same product when given different uses may preferably have different particle sizes to vary its characteristics of solubility, etc. Furthermore, numerous products from a dehydrator are such fine powders that it is impractical or undesirable to handle them. The dust problem is often acute and even may be dangerous. In many instances a controlled increase in the particle size, or agglomeration of a number of particles, can eliminate the problems Without giving weight to other disad vantages.

The principal object of the present invention is to coagment the individual particles of dried material into an agglomerate having a desired size distribution. The principal object is achieved by delaying dehydration of individual particles while adding additional particles thereto until the desired size agglomerate is obtained, whereupon it is dried into a unitary mass.

Furthermore, this is done in a continuous process in an existing dehydrator without materially reducing its drying capacity over a given period of time. The instant invention does this by choking the flow of material from the dehydrator nozzle with the related effects of slowing the fiow of material from the nozzle, reducing the amount of pressure drop at the nozzle and lowering the initial release of volatile portions of the material and consequently the speed of drying of the particles. The average agglomerate size may be controlled by varying the choking action at the nozzle.

Additional objects and advantages will be apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of the present invention; and

Fig. 2 is a section taken at line 22 of Fig. 1.

The present invention may be used with a number of dehydrating processes or apparatus as, for example, that disclosed in the patent to J. K. Gunther, No. 2,401,756, issued June ll, 1946, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. Since the present invention controls the particle size by the method and apparatus for spraying the material to be dried into the dehydrating chamber, only that portion of the apparatus is specifically illustrated and described herein.

In Figures 1 and 2 a dehydrator nozzle, generally 10, projects within the dehydrating chamber, one portion 2,730,170 Patented Jan. 10, 1956 ice of the wall of which is illustrated at 11. A pipe 12 connects the nozzle 10 to the source of supply of the material which is to be dried.

The body of nozzle 10 includes a base member 13 and a cap member 14. The cap has an orifice 15 at the end thereof through which the material is injected into the dehydration chamber. The cap 14 is attached to the base 13 by means of threads as shown at 16.

In the illustrated embodiment the nozzle 10 is of the type for forming a cone or whirling spray, and utilizes a plug 17 to achieve this effect. The cap 14 is counterbored, as illustrated at 18, to receive the end of the plug. The plug 17 has a conduit 19 therein to conduct the material from pipe 12 to a counterbore 20 in the end of member 13.

The material from pipe 12 passes through conduit 19 into counterbore 2t) and communicating counterbore 18 to the nozzle orifice 15. The end of plug 17 adjacent orifice 15 is formed with a plurality of diagonally disposed slots 22 through which at least a portion of the material passes in reaching orifice 15. The slots 22 give a whirling motion to the material as it enters and leaves orifice 15 resulting in a cone-shaped spray in a manner well known in the art. Plug 17 is adjustably mounted within the nozzle body by a suitable threaded engagement 23 whereby the plug may be moved longitudinally to control the characteristics of the spray pattern.

An enclosure member, generally 25, about the end of nozzle 10 coagments the individual particles as they are being dried into an agglomerate which is then finally flash-dried as it leaves the open end of the enclosure. The enclosure 25 is in the form of a cylindrical tube into which the material is injected by the nozzle orifice 15. After passing through the enclosure the material is discharged into the dehydration chamber proper from the open end 26 of the enclosure.

The enclosure 25 fits about nozzle 10 in such a manner that it may be moved longitudinally with respect to the nozzle. The bottom of the enclosure has a rack 27 afiixed thereto, which rack engages with a gear 28. The gear is afiixed to a shaft 29 projected through wall 11 of the dehydrator, and a hand wheel 39 on the outer end of shaft 29 allows the gear 28 to be rotated to move the enclosure 25 with respect to the nozzle. If desired, a stufiing box 31 may be utilized at the point where shaft 29 passes through wall 11.

To keep rack 27 aligned with gear 28, the internal wall of the enclosure 25 has a plurality of longitudinal grooves 34 which mate with a plurality of lands 35 on the base portion 13 of the nozzle.

In flash-drying, a substantial pressure differential is maintained between both sides of the orifice 15 through which the material is injected into the dehydration chamber. Sufiicient heat is added to the material before it enters pipe 12 and is discharged through orifice 15 to cause the desired amount of the volatile portions of the material to immediately vaporize upon entering the lower pressure area of the chamber.

Initially the interior of the enclosure 25 will be at the same pressure as the remainder of the interior of the dehydration chamber. However, because of the restricted volume of the interior of the enclosure 25, the pressure therein will begin to build up as material is injected through orifice 15.

This building up of pressure has several related effects. It reduces the pressure drop between both sides of the orifice 15 and thus reduces the amount of volatile portions that will be flashed immediately upon the material leaving the orifice. It constricts the flow of material leaving the orifice. These effects cause the particles to coagment into an agglomerate.

By shortening the length of the enclosure projecting forwardly of the nozzle orifice (with respect to the direction of flow of material), the choking effect of the enclosure on the material discharged through the orifice is reduced with an accompanying reduction in the average size of the agglomerate. Conversely, increasing the length of the enclosure downstream of the orifice increases the choking effect and increases the average size of the pieces of agglomerate.

The specific embodiment illustrated is for the pur' poses of compliance with 35 U. S. C. 112, and for this reason should not be construed as imposing unnecessary limitations on the appended claim. From the illustration and description, numerous embodiments and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

For example, instead of making the enclosure 25 adjustable in the manner described, a series of separate enclosures 25 may be brazed, welded, or otherwise suitably affixed to a series of cap members 14. With this structure the size of the agglomerate may be varied by substituting a new cap and enclosure assembly for the one presently afiixed to the base member 13. In other instances entirely dilferent types of nozzles 10 may be used with a suitable enclosure 25, or the plug 17 may be eliminated from described nozzle 10 under some circumstances.

We claim:

In a dehydrating apparatus for flash drying a material, the combination of a dehydrating chamber, a nozzle member for injecting the material into the chamber, an enclosure member for said nozzle member, said enclosure member extending downstream from the discharge end of said nozzle member, the length of said enclosure member downstream from said discharge end being substantially' longer than the distance between the walls of the enclosure member, said enclosure member and said nozzle member forming a completely enclosed space about the discharge end of said nozzle member except for the downstream end of the nozzle member, said downstream end of the enclosure member beingin communication with the interior of the chamber with said enclosed space from said nozzle to said chamber being unobstructed, one of said members being movable with respect to the other of the members in a direction along the line of flow of said material to vary the length of said enclosed space, and means extending through a wall of said chamber and operatively connected to said one member to move one said member with respect to the other of the members.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Re. 19,456 Clayton et a1. Feb. 12, 1935 1,243,878 Rogers Oct. 23, 1917 1,308,403 Doonar July 1, 1919 1,828,463 Hammers Oct. 20, 1931 1,975,560 Sollich Oct. 2, 1934 2,072,375 McCallum Mar. 2, 1937 2,142,984 Thurman Jan. 3, 1939 2,255,227 Parsons Sept. 9, 1941 2,325,495 Ferguson July 27, 1943 2,328,892 Colgate et al. Sept. 7, 1943 2,374,290 Johansson Apr. 24, 1945 2,378,348 Wilmes et a1. June 12, 1945 2,381,119 Dill Aug. 7, 1945 2,384,998 Haugh Sept. 18, 1945 2,408,099 Sherman Sept. 24, 1946 2,411,186 Boeckeler Nov. 19, 1946 2,439,384 Fetzer Apr. 13, 1948 2,561,394 Marshall July 24, 1951 2,561,395 Marshall July 24, 1951 2,566,223 Mackay Aug. 28, 1951 2,572,321 Deanes'ley Oct. 23, 1951 2,573,982 Ofeldt Nov. 6, 1951 2,576,264 Coulter et a1. Nov. 27, 1951 

